Thanksgiving Miracle I was working in my office in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, on the Monday before Thanksgiving in 1984. My Division Vice President, Jim Earwood, walked into my office. "What are you doing here?" he asked.   "I'm working." "No, you're getting out of here today and going home to West Virginia for Thanksgiving," he said. "Jim, I was planning on leaving Wednesday evening after work.  I don't have any vacation accrued yet." "Randy, how many nights and weekends have you

Is the playing field level for all?

Great novelists use words to "show" you how their characters are feeling and what they are thinking, instead of just "telling" you.  Great communicators and managers do the same. I would like to share two examples from my career that illustrate the difference perfectly. Example 1: Fax/Modem Purchase About 25 years ago, I tried to convince my manager at North Carolina Power to purchase a new fax/modem that would make sending press releases during hurricanes and other storms much more efficient